Gold extends fall; silver also slips

Gold prices dropped for the fifth session at the domestic bullion market today due to reduced off-take by jewellery stockists and retailers amid uncertainty over withdrawal of US central bank's easy money policy.
Silver, after a brief overnight recovery, fell on heavy unwinding from speculators coupled with subdued industrial buying.
Standard gold (99.5 purity) slipped by Rs 60 to close at Rs 30,830 per 10 grams from overnight close of Rs 30,890.
Pure gold (99.9 purity) also lost by a similar margin to settle at Rs 30,980 per 10 grams from Rs 31,040 previously.
Silver ready (.999 fineness) plummeted Rs 435 to end at Rs 46,535 per kg as compared to Wednesday's close of Rs 46,970.

Meanwhile, the yellow metal plunged to four-month lows in global trade after the most recent Federal Reserve policy meeting minutes revealed the US central bank was mulling scaling back its quantitative easing programme in the next few months, which would be earlier than expected.
Gold December delivery dropped USD 15.50 to settle at USD 1,258 an ounce on the Comex division of the NYMEX late yesterday, while silver December contract ended at USD 20.06 an ounce.